Why limit yourself to one designer when you can tap into the talent of HUNDREDS? Competition breads excellence which is exactly what this deal will bring to your needed designs. The idea behind 99designs is to essentially have designers compete for your business. Awesome right!?

Let’s say you need a new logo. As opposed to hiring one designer to pump out a couple options, 99designs reaches numerous artists who will need to outperform one another to obtain your business. You set the guidelines… price, timing and all other aspects of the design project. Once you submit what you are looking for, your contest will be entered into a shark pool of gung-ho designers who will create several, or even dozens of designs for you to choose from.

You are the boss and the designers would love nothing more than to meet your expectations. 99designs even allows you to give feedback and criticism to help you and your team of designers reach that perfect design. At the end of your contest simply choose your favorite logo and then reward the winner with your predetermined prize money. With words like “contests” and “prizes” all parties involved are guaranteed a good time and everyone goes home happy.

If only everything in life was so idealistic. Imagine having such a platform for a lunchtime burger, or your next website. Hold the phone! 99designs talent pool can handle web design too, along with business cards, T-shirts, brochure design, mobile apps, and whatever else needs that magic touch of a professional graphic designer. Hop on this deal and check out the future of online service marketplaces.

Deals of the Day

I’m designer and I use 99 designs for a long time and I want to share my feedback here.

1. As a designer you have to be willing to work for free. Without any guarantee of payment for your work. First of all you can not choose, and secondly the customer often just close contest, because he don’t like all designs (very popular situation). Even when they put a tag “payment guarantee” is not guaranteed, so it was with me 2 times.

Therefore, on the one hand, to win you have to spend a lot of time and try do best, but then most often you will not get the payment (because here is a lot designers like you, chance that you will choose is reduced).

2. As an employer you will get a lot of designs, but almost all of them are bad. Because really good work should be done by contract with the time and designer should be sure that he works not for free.

Conclusion: I’m designer and i looking on 99 designs from in terms of earnings. After 8 attempts, I went on this site and don’t want to waste my time like that. When “payment guarantee” tender was closed by author without selecting any designs and even support team doesn’t help. I exit from 99 designs because I don’t like the idea from my (designer) view. And almost of all designs made by other designers, that was very poor and ugly, which makes this service is not very attractive to employers.

I choose GraphicsRiver, because I can make anything what I want. Other people can buy it (or not). But this is very closer to the “normal work” model (like customers buy iPhones that already designed and produced, you can see the object (the work) and u can see the price). And it’s the best. Customers can buy finished result and see what you get.

For customers (employer) view, I suggest use freelance websites and agree on a specific job. So that the customer can choose a designer chi work he likes and who he can trust execution order.

I’m very, very disappointed in 99 design business model.

_Carson_Design

I’m disappointed in you Cultofmac

As a designer and illustrator, I feel that your promotion of this kind of exploitative business model is irresponsible. This type of business attracts poor designers and recent grads looking to build a portfolio. It ends in poor results, disillusioned grads and disappointed customers who got the lower quality they paid for.

It’s starting to look like anyone can jump into the design industry thanks to the growing range of easy-to-use products out there. Factor in competition models like this and it makes it incredibly difficult for recent grads to find the kind of work that will build their portfolios and reputations.

To frame it another way, it’s similar to a magazine posting a competition for writers to create an article. Starving writers would scramble and panic to throw something together hoping to be picked. How good could the resulting article be under those conditions?

Product and industry suffer when work is created like this. As professional staff writers, I would hope that you would appreciate this and will take steps to avoid aiding the exploitation of other creative professionals like this.

Remember, you get what you pay for. You don’t get the same results by sourcing work this way.

CharlieBing

So here’s the third comment so far, and it too is negative, negative, negative.

Crowd sourcing is playing to the lowest common denominator, people trying their best to get the most for the least effort… and that applies both to the people trying to get logos (etc) designed, and the people trying to design them. The people who use places like 99 designs don’t want to pay the going rate for anything and they’ll nickel and dime you to death… and the folks doing the designing… well, do they have any real skills or is it all seat of the pants stuff? As someone said, graphic design is easy, all you have to do it stare at a TV with a potato in your hand.

Spare us this sort of promo, and let the real graphic designers do their thing.

Gareth Edwards

TAKE THIS SHIT OFF YOUR SITE – HAVE YOU NO SHAME!

RJM

Josh Payne are you being sarcastic?

I am a Designer and Illustrator and in the past I used I have used a similar website. I wont mention the name as I do not want to offer any advertising, no matter how small.

Any fee offered for services were considered, “too high,” in favour for work that was charging a fraction of minimum wage for weeks of work. After a month it was decided to be a waste of time, but there are always a deluge of new users how unfortunately patronise these ‘services.’

These sites promote the worst possible model for any kind of design work, spec work. Spec work wastes both parties time and the end result lacks any kind of strategic think or collaboration. And of course with no agreement the client can flake out at a moments notice. The only people who benefit from these sites are the operators who whore out industry for their own ends.

Sites like 99 Designs also endorse the notion that design work is easy, disposable as well as foster poor design for little or no money. They take advantage of students and the less experienced and have a considerably detrimental effect on the Design industry as a whole, breeding clients who want work for free or nothing.

Perhaps Cult of Mac should employ a similar service, tailored for writers, Josh Payne? Money out of your pocket too but, “With words like “contests” and “prizes” all parties involved are guaranteed a good time and everyone goes home happy.” It’s not as if anybody does this to make a living is it?

But then you wouldn’t have the extra money to get your teeth whitened.

SimplerWeb

Wow, Cultofmac, I’m in awe.You’d promote this kind of crap?

Spec work, which is what this is, is the absolute worst model for hiring designers or anyone for that matter ever conceived.it’s worse to usury.Why do people think that it’s somehow ‘ok’ to make a bunch of people do worst for you then only pay the one you like the most?You wouldn’t hire 5 landscape gardeners to do your garden then only pay the one who you thought done the best job.

You hire someone based on what they’ve proven they can do, sign a contact and pay them accordingly.

I expect a retraction from Cultofmac and possibly an apology as well for promoting this garbage.

giob4

Why limit yourself to one surgeon when you can tap into the talent of HUNDREDS? Competition breads excellence which is exactly what this deal will bring to your needed surgeries. The idea behind 99surgeons is to essentially have doctors compete for your surgery. Awesome right!?

Let’s say you need a new heart transplant. As opposed to visiting a doctor just to hear a lame diagnosis, 99surgeons reaches numerous doctors who will need to outperform one another to obtain your business. You set the guidelines… price, timing and all other aspects of the surgery. Once you submit what you are looking for, your contest will be entered into a shark pool of gung-ho surgeons who will provide several, or even dozens of diagnoses for you to choose from.

You are the boss and the surgeons would love nothing more than to meet your expectations. 99surgeons even allows you to give feedback and criticism to help you and your team of specialists reach that perfect diagnose. At the end of your contest simply choose your favorite diagnose and then reward the winner with your predetermined prize money. With words like “contests” and “prizes” all parties involved are guaranteed a good time and everyone goes home happy.

If only everything in life was so idealistic. Imagine having such a platform for a lunchtime burger, or your next website. Hold the phone! 99surgeons talent pool can handle housekeeping, along with baby sitting, lawn mowning , gardening, kids homework, and whatever else needs that magic touch of an experienced specialist. Hop on this deal and check out the future of online service marketplaces.

–It sounds kinda messed up *__* but I think that we are all professionals; doctors, designers, developers, lawyers, and we all need to respect our professions, and as a community we shouldn’t take part on this type of crap, even recent graduates shouldn’t do it.

concentrateddon

Competition generally “breeds” excellence, as opposed to “breading” it. Breading is generally done to something before you fry it.

Reivax

Spec work is a race to the bottom, for all involved.

RaycerXray

“With words like “contests” and “prizes” all parties involved are guaranteed a good time and everyone goes home happy.”

Eh? The only one who leaves happy is the one who got a logo for bottom dollar price. All the rest are losers, including the designer who won, for he surely sold himself short to get even this little bit of business. Sad that this “article” was even posted on this site.

RaycerXray

“With words like “contests” and “prizes” all parties involved are guaranteed a good time and everyone goes home happy.”

Eh? The only one who leaves happy is the one who got a logo for bottom dollar price. All the rest are losers, including the designer who won, for he surely sold himself short to get even this little bit of business. Sad that this “article” was even posted on this site.